On the First Part of the Journey

We find ourselves alive and kicking on this cloudy Friday. I dragged out the mower and cut the grass yesterday evening. The lawn still has too many weeds, but it looks less shaggy. Finances the past couple of years precluded spraying for weeds or fertilizer, so the old lawn is looking rough. I don’t have the worst front yard on the cul-de-sac, but it is close. Paying to rid the backyard of the big limb from the willow* ate up this month’s lawn care budget, so it will be next month before we can do any treating. So yes, we are behind. 

It looks like a semi-rainy weekend. I still have cleanup and pruning to do outside. We shall see. 

I was up in the weed-choked flower bed hacking away with the string trimmer after mowing yesterday. Something moved beside my foot and in rapid sequence my brain said snake...chipmunk...no, baby rabbit. It was a tiny bunny, no bigger than a mouse. He scurried a few feet away and froze beside another cluster of weeds. I moved on, hoping I just scared him and didn’t actually hit him with the trimmer. I have no doubt he had siblings nearby. Later in the summer, when he eats the tomatoes from my garden, I will wish I had chopped him up. 

I don’t know why brain always defaults to “snake” when I’m startled. My reptile encounters are few. I’m still wet my pants scared of snakes though. 

Now, here is what you came for. Released fifty years ago this year, this song wasn’t originally on the “America” album. After the success of the single, the song was added and the album re-released to much greater success.

*the limb was about 30’ long and about 10” in circumference at the base.